


If I Could Turn Back Time

by arborealstops



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 14:12:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17920331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arborealstops/pseuds/arborealstops
Summary: "There's been an accident."





	If I Could Turn Back Time

Jed’s heartbeat pounded in his ears. He registered, dimly, that CJ was standing in front of him, and that her mouth was moving, but the words didn’t make sense in his head. 

“Mr. President?” CJ’s voice was soft, but it broke through the wall that seemed to surround Jed’s mind. “Did you hear me?”

He had, he knew he had, but something wasn’t registering. He couldn’t remember what she had said, just that it had been bad. A word came to mind, a word his wife had often used when talking about patients who had been severely wounded- shock. But he hadn’t been hurt, he was perfectly fine. So what had happened?

He shook his head. 

CJ took a deep breath, and Jed noticed the tears gleaming in her eyes. It reminded him of a time, less than two months before, when CJ had come to him with news- news that his best friend was gone. Suddenly he was afraid. Very, very afraid. 

“Sir,” CJ began again. “There’s been an accident.”

-

“Sir! Mr. President, you need to be moved to a safe room!”

“Damn a safe room!” The president’s voice was ragged as he hobbles down the hallway. He’s left his cane in the Oval, so he leaned against the wall for support. Grabbing the first Secret Service agent he found, which didn’t take long, Jed growled, “I need to get to GW.”

This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not now, not like this. Jed had always tried to keep the personal and the political separate, at least enough that it wouldn’t affect his family. He’s already failed once, with Zoey- hadn’t that been enough? And why now, why when he was meant to be leaving office so soon?

“I’m sorry, sir,” the agent replied, gently prying the president’s hands off his arm. “But no one is permitted to leave. I need to get you to a safe room.”

“My wife-”

“Sir.” CJ’s voice came from behind him, and the tone of her voice knocked the adrenaline out of him. He collapsed against the wall and turned to face CJ, letting his guard down just a little when he saw the familiar face. His voice broke as he spoke.

“I have to see my wife,” he choked out.

CJ did her best to be a press secretary in that moment. “Sir,” she said, stepping forward. “Sir, your wife is dead.”

It took a moment for the words to register, but the moment they had, Jed collapsed to the ground, and the world went dark.

**Author's Note:**

> uh yeah I realize that there is NO WAY this can be the whole fic, but I'm still plotting how.to do the rest. it's gonna be... interesting.


End file.
